Summer For Forever
by HVK
Summary: Set before Too Young; while playing with the younger Princess Bubblegum at her castle, Finn and her enjoy each other's company, for it is sweet and enticing, like love without any worries about what might be, only what is. And the main thing is, they like each other, they are the very best of friends, and that is all that is relevant.


I did this as a request for a friend on tumblr, and she wanted a fubblegum with young PB and Finn; I prefer PB being older than Finn, but it was interesting to write them with a more equalized dynamic.

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More often than not, Finn spent his days at the Candy Castle, and stayed there so long that it was long past dark when he went home, and was there so consistently that all the staff knew him by name (though they were not so much servants as just people who lived there and did jobs when Bubblegum asked them to) even if they hadn't paid attention to current events in years and hadn't already known him.

He walked confidently in the halls, comfortable like he had been born to dwell here. He didn't feel like he was away from home, or just visiting his girlfriend's house. He felt that both castle and tree house was home, two points seperated by a trifling thing like distance. It was a nice feeling, a homey feeling, like the smell of sweet treats and a warm puppy bed to curl up in with Jake and Jermaine.

(Bubblegum had congratulated him on that nice science analogy. Apparently it was related to something about distance between all the same point when you made things small enough. Finn hadn't gotten it, but Bubblegum still thought he did and it made her happy so that made him happy too.)

A part of him that had grown up on his mom's stories of doing a bit of work as a coordinator for royal meetings had led him to believe that princesses were supposed to recieve guests in big and grand rooms with giant thrones that looked like monster mouths. Princess Bubblegum was hardly one to go with orthrodox though, if she even knew that this was a tradition at all, so Finn didn't find her in the throne room, or her bedroom (investigated on a number of sleepovers that she still got giggly and blushy about especially when Finn asked her about who else she'd had sleepovers with before she'd been made to be young).

Finn wandered around for quite a while before he followed a familiar smell, a little bit spicy but sugary too, and noticed a pink smudge on the ground in the vague shape of a slender foot. He saw there was a trail of similar smudges, gooey drippings on the ground and going into a laboratory. He entered it to find Bubblegum, gooey hair short and lumpy (like little bumps slowly growing out into the longer cables of goo-hair he was familiar with), her shorter and plump body wearing a pink hoodie and cargo shorts that Marceline had helped find for her.

Finn made a bright squealed noise and hurried over to her. "Peebee!" He squealed, his feet making soft patterings on the ground. His round cheeks flushed bright, and a few blond hairs poked from under his hat.

Bubblegum turned. "Finn!" She said, slightly translucent skin turning a happy shade of a faint red. Her arms were wide to recieve Finn, and when he was close enough, she surprised him by snatching him right out of the air and spinning him around, her grip strong like iron and so tight she might never have let him go if practicalities hadn't demanded otherwise.

Though Finn was bigger than her, she lifted him up like he was weightless. She brought him down and kissed him on the nose, standing up on her bare tip-toes to reach him. "Hi, Finn!" She said brightly, and kissed him again on a spot just left to his cheek. Plainly romantic, a little over the side from purely innocent, but not quite adult.

Finn, nervously, leaned down. His lips found one of many faint discolorations on her cheek, something just like a freckle. Bubblegum warmed at his touch, hugging him again.

"Peebee," Finn said, and said no more because he was giggling too hard.

She giggled too. "Finn, please, I've told you before! You don't have to call me Princess or Bubblegum, you get to call me by my real name! I'm Bonnibel!"

Finn giggled some more. "I know… Peebee."

She snorted and clapped him on the shoulder. "Silly boy." Her hand squeezed his shoulder, soft and strong.

"Where were you? I was looking for ya in the throne room but you weren't there like you said you would be."

"I was getting low on candy biomass," she explaining, nodding to the smudges on the floor; Finn recognized them as the same goo that made up her body, dripping right off her. "I was getting kind of gooey."

"Peebles… er, Bonnie, you're made of goo."

"I know, I mean… I was getting unstable. And I have to be careful about candy biomass, or I would revert back to my usual age."

"You don't want to?" Finn asked.

She snorted. "I llke getting to be a kid. It's fun!"

He smiled. "…Thanks, Peebs."

"For what?"

"Y'know… staying young. Hanging out with me."

Bubblegum giggled. "I'd hang out with you even if I had to grow up again. You're my best friend, Finny!"

Impulsively, he kissed her on the mouth, and she happily returned the kiss.

She grabbed his hand. "Finn!" She chirped. "I'm bored, let's go on an adventure! I know where there's a dungeon!"

Finn perked up. "A dungeon? Really? You wanna go dungeoning with me?"

"Yeah!"

Finn raised his hand up. "Adventure time?

"Heck yeah!"

They high-fived, and it was epic indeed.


End file.
